NEW Miami mega-billboards put on 270-day hold

Miami is moving forward with a 270-day moratorium to halt all new applications for outdoor advertising signs as commissioners continue to debate details of a new ordinance.

On April 11, the city commission considered two agenda items related to outdoor advertising downtown. The first, which would have repealed a January 2023 measure that updated the city’s outdoor advertising ordinance to allow for extra-large LED billboards, was put on hold. Instead, a temporary measure was passed to suspend all sign applications for 270 days, giving commissioners more time to decide on a new ordinance.

In January 2023, the commission amended Miami’s outdoor advertising ordinance to allow 100-foot-tall signs with two faces up to 1,080 square feet per side to rise at an expanded list of locations including Bayfront Park, the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), the Adrienne Arsht Center and Maurice A. Ferré Park.

The colossal height and width, which is nearly two times the size allowed by county regulations, drew criticism from residents who feared it would disrupt their quality of life and mar the aesthetic of Miami’s downtown neighborhoods. However, the city argued the measure would generate the revenue necessary to maintain and improve government-owned properties within the municipality.

Commissioner Damian Pardo introduced legislation earlier this year to reverse the January 2023 decision and return to the smaller size and list of locations permitted under a 2015 ordinance, which allowed only for billboards up to 750 square feet at the James L. Knight Center, the Olympia Theater/Gusman Center for the Performing Arts and the Miami Children’s Museum.

After receiving several constituent calls at the end of last year complaining about nighttime welding on billboards being erected in his district, Mr. Pardo asked the city manager to investigate the permit for the structures. He said he has also received letters from the Downtown Neighbors Alliance and the Biscayne Neighborhood Association opposing the signs.

Upon investigating the permits, he noticed the January 2023 ordinance was passed while the seat in District Two, which is where the additional outdoor advertising sites are located, was vacant and the area was without proper representation.

Now, Mr. Pardo wants to repeal the 2023 ordinance and work on a new one to update it in a way that makes sense for the community and includes area input as well as one that is in accordance with state laws.

The measure to return to the 2015 ordinance passed 3-2 on first reading but was deferred on the second reading at the April 11 meeting as commissioners continue to debate the size and location of signs that should be allowed under city code.

As an intermediate measure while officials decide on whether to amend the outdoor advertising ordinance once again, the 270-day moratorium will pause all new sign applications.

Concerns were also raised as permits have been issued and construction has begun on signs at the PAMM and the Arsht Center. Commissioners questioned how a new ordinance would affect those contracts and if it would potentially open the city to lawsuits.

City officials assured commissioners that the 270-day moratorium wouldn’t impact the signs underway at the PAMM and Adrienne Arsht Center.
The agenda item regarding the outdoor advertising ordinance is to be discussed again April 25.